Shipments of Russian gold appear to have increased since the start of the Ukraine war.
Keystone / Martin Ruetschi
The volume of trade between Switzerland and Russia has increased since the start of the Ukraine war, despite Swiss sanctions, according to official figures.
The Tages Anzeiger newspaper has crunched the numbers from the Swiss customs authorities and finds exports have increased 19% while imports have risen 54% since the war began.
Exports are dominated by pharmaceutical products, the newspaper reports, with some trade likely catching up from logjams created by the pandemic.
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But the sizeable increase in imports is dominated by gold, which is subject to specific Swiss sanctions.
In August, Switzerland, which is a major global hub for processing gold, adopted European Union sanctions prohibiting the trade of Russian gold and gold products.
But this appears to be having little impact on Russian gold imports. In November, 6.4 tons of gold worth CHF344 million ($370 million) arrived from Russia, but the identity of the buyer is unclear.
The Swiss Association of Precious Metal Manufacturers and Dealers says its members do not touch Russian gold while the Russian embassy to Bern declined to comment to the Tages Anzeiger.
It is believed that much Russian gold enters Switzerland via third countries, such as Dubai, which makes it harder to police.
The newspaper also highlighted figures from the Observatory of Economic Complexity that shows trade increasing between Russia and multiple countries since the war began.
Besides China, India and Turkey, trade also increased with Belgium, which is a major diamond trading hub, according to these statistics.
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Switzerland takes over EU sanctions on Russian gold
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Switzerland, a major gold-refining hub, has followed the EU in banning Russian gold as part of new sanctions due to the war in Ukraine.
Swiss note another slight rise in frozen Russian funds
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Since the invasion of Ukraine in February and the start of sanctions, Switzerland has frozen some CHF7.5 billion ($7.9 billion) in Russian assets.
Swiss gold imports come under scrutiny as G7 targets Russia
This content was published on
A spike in Switzerland’s gold imports from Russia is under scrutiny as the leaders of G7 nations gear up to introduce a ban on the precious metal.
This content was published on
Most of the gold in the world passes through Switzerland. This is a business worth CHF70-CHF90 billion depending on the year.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.